Children have unpredictable and short lived tastes in toys. As a result, toy manufacturers are constantly trying to keep up with trends and provide a wide and varied range of products and choices in an attempt to keep up with this rather fickle consumer.
Unfortunately, parents have limited finances and resources and are unable to continually provide new sources of entertainment by purchasing new toys. As the individual likes and dislikes of children come and go, parents often need to buy new toys for their children. This comes at no small expense. Moreover, it is far from certain how long a child will enjoy a particular toy, if they enjoy the toy at all, once it gets home.
There are many toys that are quite effective at entertaining children and that simulate enjoyable environments. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,973,287 to Martin is directed to a toy check out station. U.S. Pat. No. 4,341,034 to Tsui et al. discloses a toy washing machine and U.S. Pat. No. 4,388,741 to Tsui et al. discloses a toy clothes dryer. U.S. Pat. No. 3,133,376 to Orenstein is drawn to a toy electric range. U.S. Pat. No. Design 370,947 depicts a design for a toy play kitchen. Each of these toys is useful and entertaining; however, each of them embodies only a single use or a single simulated environment. These toys entertain a child only if the child is interested in the one particular use and only for as long as the child is interested in the one particular use.
Consequently, there is a need in the art for a low cost toy that stands a better chance of being accepted by a child and of entertaining the child for a significant period of time.